I’ve been thinking a lot about St. Teresa of Avila.
First, because it was her feast day yesterday and, as such, a special day for our own sweet Felicity.
Second, I am thinking about St. Teresa of Avila because Felicity has asked—begged, really—to portray her patron at next week’s performance of Saints & Scholars. (Shoot. I was hoping to get out of this.)
Third, I am looking to her—to this great mystic and doctor of the Church—to help me in my faltering prayer life. Yes, she is “great” but she is also simple…not as simple, perhaps, as The Little Flower, but her approach to prayer isn’t always lofty…
….and that is what this little flower needs.
“I know an old woman who is leading an excellent life. I wish I were more like her. She is a penitent and a great servant of God. For years she has been praying the classic prayers aloud. Mental prayer is impossible. Many people are like this. This does not make them second-class citizens. Ultimately many such people think that they must be at fault. They think they are backward or handicapped.
Those God calls to an active ministry should not murmur against others who are absorbed in prayer. It is all in the same package. Whether your specialty is meditation and prayer or caring for the sick or sweeping the floors in service to Christ, what should it matter? We are to do our best at whatever we do.”
that was recommended by Speaking of our Felicity, she and her sisters are at Grandma’s this weekend. You know what this means, don’t you? Besides a much, MUCH quieter house?
It means I get to do a massive cleaning!
Not for long, hee hee hee.
Tell me I don’t need a strong prayer life for this one.
Updated to add:
(And I can’t stop checking the driveway.)
Next time I have to face this task in our girls' room I plan to relocate all the CPC to a Prize Box. Then it's not all lost forever (fewer tears shed) and doubles as an incentive for cooperation!
You are my inspiration for honest blogging. You are spiritual, yes, but also so real. I feel closer to you than any other blogger ~ because of messy room pictures and because of holy directions for this convert, to whom All Things Catholic seem not so far away when I visit your blog. Love and blessings and have a wonderful weekend!!
Sigh, my dd's bedroom used to look like that, and there was only one of her. Now she is older, it's the coffee table that looks that way!
Theresa of Avila is one of my heroines because she was so real, so practical and sensible – and at the same time so transcendent in her experience of God. Her story and wisdom always encourages me.
Many blessings to your Felicity.
Oh my goodness, Allison, you gave me a great big lump in my throat. Thank you for your kindness.
And Tracy? YES to the relocation of that CPC. I think, too, that our kids should be fined for the theft and misappropriation of classroom math manipulatives. If I never pick up another counting bear, it will be too soon.
PS. And don't even get me started on all those gemstones.
#1
I REALLY needed to read this…I mean REALLY. It was a hard day…
#2
Were the girls as excited to see their pretty and tidy room as I was to view it? I'm seriously living through your joy of a clean room. My kiddies room is so in need of my time.
God bless you and may I say a HUGE ditto to Allison!
Great job!
I wish my daughter (who is 15) would stop puking her stuff all over the house: the coffee table, the table, the floor, the stairs . . . can't she contain it in her room?????? If I can get her to do that one thing (keep it behind her closed door, at the least), I might be a smidgen more happy. I'm a neat-freak, she is definitely not. But, she's my heart.
Ok… I have studied the pictures here INTENTLY and I need to know what the heck is the blue tube hanging down from the ceiling on the far left corner? In the first photograph it appears to be empty or near empty and has a circular hole in it near the bootom. In the last picture it has "stuff" in it. Is it a hanging laundry hamper, stuffed toy collector, a magical sock sorter….
signed
flummoxed & in need of a magical sock vacuum/sorter
I WISH it were magical! It's a toy sorter we picked up at IKEA, used as a container for their stuffed minions.
Awww, their pretty room looks so cozy and inviting! Want to come help me with the smallish room shared by my three little girls? 😉